Now available in Serbo-Croat

I went yesterday to a session in the British Library in London about the structure of the novel. The three authors seemed to me to think of a structure as something that slowly opens like a flower, growing from the impetus of character and story. Working in the field of non-fiction, this is quite unlike anything I do; the structure of my books has more to do with rods and girders than fabrics and motifs. I feel like a visitor from another planet.

When I write, I plan in some detail. The new edition of Social Policy has four parts, and three of those have five or six chapters. Each of the chapters has several sub-sections (typically 3-7); many of the subsections had three, four or five lower-level sub-headings, though I may have removed these after I wrote them. That means that I might begin with a plan for about 120 different sections, typically writing 800-1200 words apiece; and I can write them in any order.

The new edition of Social Policy has now appeared in its Serbian translation, a little ahead of the English version which went to press a couple of weeks ago. Enthusiastic speakers of Serbo-Croat will no doubt be queuing around the block.